Can Only One Religion Be True?: Paul Knitter and Harold Netland in Dialogue

(1917–2000)

Contributors

Paul Copan (Ph.D., Marquette University) is the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is the author of several books, including Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion (Chalice, 2007) and "True for You, but Not for Me" (Bethany House, 2007), and he is coauthor of Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration (Baker Academic, 2004). He has coedited a number of books, including The Rationality of Theism (Routledge, 2003), The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Religion (Routledge, 2012), and Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues (Blackwell, 2007). In addition, he has written many articles in professional philosophical and theological journals. He has served as president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, and he lives with his wife, Jacqueline, and their six children in West Palm Beach.

Paul Rhodes Eddy (Ph.D., Marquette University) is Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Teaching Pastor at Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul. He has authored, coauthored and coedited several books, including John Hick’s Pluralist Philosophy of World Religions (Ashgate, 2002), The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition (Baker, 2007), The Historical Jesus: Five Views (InterVarsity, 2009), Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology (Baker, 2009), and Justification: Five Views (InterVarsity, 2011). He has also authored a number of articles and essays related to the theology of religions and the historical study of Jesus.

Millard J. Erickson (Ph.D., Northwestern University) has taught at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Western Seminary (Portland and San Jose), and Truett Seminary, Baylor University. He has authored numerous books, including Christian Theology (Baker, 1986, 1998, 2013), The Word Became Flesh: A Contemporary Incarnational Christology (Baker, 1991), Truth or Consequences: The Promise and Perils of Postmodernism (InterVarsity, 2001), and How Shall They Be Saved? The Destiny of Those Who Do Not Hear of Jesus (Baker, 1996).

R. Douglas Geivett (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot Department of Philosophy, Biola University in La Mirada, California. In addition to contributing numerous articles to various philosophical and theological journals, as well as writing numerous chapters in books, he has written Evil and the Evidence for God and is coeditor of Being Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday Life (Eerdmans, 2011), In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God’s Action in History (InterVarsity, 1997), and Contemporary Perspectives on Religious Epistemology (Oxford University Press, 1993). His interests range over the philosophy of religion, epistemology, and the history of modern philosophy.

S. Mark Heim (Ph.D., Boston College–Andover Newton joint doctoral program) is the Samuel Abbot Professor of Christian Theology at Andover Newton Theological School. He has been deeply involved in issues of religious pluralism and Christian ecumenism. He is the author of Is Christ the Only Way? (Judson, 1985), Salvations: Truth and Difference in Religion (Orbis, 1995), The Depth of the Riches: A Trinitarian Theology of Religious Ends (Eerdmans, 2001), and Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross (Eerdmans, 2006). He has also edited several volumes, including Faith to Creed: Ecumenical Perspectives on the Affirmation of the Apostolic Faith in the Fourth Century (Eerdmans, 1991) and Grounds for Understanding: Ecumenical Resources for Responses to Religious Pluralism (Eerdmans, 1998). An ordained American Baptist minister, Heim represents his denomination on the Faith and Order Commissions of the National Council and World Council of Churches. He has served on numerous ecumenical commissions and interfaith groups, including the Christian-Muslim relations committee of the National Council of Churches and the planning team for the current Muslim-Baptist dialogue in North America. He has served as a member of the Christian Scholars of Judaism group and has been elected to the American Theological Society. He was awarded a Henry Luce fellowship in 2009–2010 for a comparative theology project on atonement in Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam.

John Hick (D.Phil., University of Oxford; D.Litt., University of Edinburgh) taught at Cornell University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Cambridge University, and Claremont Graduate University. A seminal thinker in the field of theology of religions, he wrote many books on the subject, including God and the Universe of Faith (Macmillan, 1973), God Has Many Names (Westminster John Knox, 1982), The Myth of Christian Uniqueness, edited with Paul Knitter (Orbis, 1987), A Christian Theology of Religions: The Rainbow of Faiths (SCM/Westminster John Knox, 1995), The Metaphor of God Incarnate, (2nd ed., SCM, 2005), and An Interpretation of Religion: Human Responses to the Transcendent (Palgrave, 2004), for which he received the Grawemeyer Award for new religious thinking.

Paul F. Knitter (L.Th., Pontifical Gregorian University; D.Th., University of Marburg) is the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions, and Culture at Union Theological Seminary, New York. He received a Licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1966) and a doctorate from the University of Marburg, Germany (1972). His many books include No Other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes toward the World Religions (Orbis, 1985), One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue and Global Responsibility (Orbis, 1995), Introducing Theologies of Religions (Orbis, 2002), and Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian (Oneworld, 2009). From 1986 to 2004, he served on the board of directors for CRISPAZ (Christians for Peace in El Salvador). He is also on the board of trustees for the International, Interreligious Peace Council, formed after the 1993 World Parliament of Religions to promote interreligious peacemaking projects.

Nancy Fuchs Kreimer (Ph.D., Temple University) serves as Director of the Department of Multifaith Studies and Initiatives at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where she is also Associate Professor of Religious Studies. She holds a master of religion degree from Yale Divinity School and Ph.D. from Temple University in Jewish-Christian relations. She serves on the boards of Clergy Beyond Borders and the Islamic Society of North America’s Shoulder-to-Shoulder. Recent publications include Trouble Praying, in My Neighbor’s Faith: Stories of Interreligious Encounter, Growth and Transformation (Orbis, 2012). She is currently coediting a book of Jewish spiritual essays, Chapters of the Heart (Wipf & Stock, 2013).

Harold A. Netland (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) is professor of philosophy of religion and intercultural studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He completed his doctoral studies under John Hick at Claremont Graduate University in 1983. He has lived much of his life in Japan and taught at Tokyo Christian University from 1990 to 1993, at which time he began teaching at Trinity. Among his publications are Dissonant Voices: Religious Pluralism and the Question of Truth (Eerdmans, 1991), Encountering Religious Pluralism (InterVarsity, 2001), and with Keith Yandell, Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal (InterVarsity/Paternoster, 2009).

Robert B. Stewart (Ph.D., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Professor of Philosophy and Theology, and Greer-Heard Professor of Faith and Culture at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also pastor of Ames Blvd. Baptist Church in Marrero, Louisiana. He is editor of The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright in Dialogue (Fortress, 2006), Intelligent Design: William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse in Dialogue (Fortress, 2007), The Future of Atheism: Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett in Dialogue (Fortress, 2008), and The Reliability of the New Testament: Bart D. Ehrman and Daniel B. Wallace in Dialogue (Fortress, 2011). A contributor to the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, he has published articles and book reviews in numerous journals.

Terrence W. Tilley (Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley) is the Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Professor of Catholic Theology and Chair of the Theology Department at Fordham University in New York. He has previously taught at Georgetown University, St. Michael’s College (Vermont), the Florida State University, and the University of Dayton. He has written reviews of over a hundred books and scores of scholarly articles, edited or coedited three books, and authored ten books, most recently Faith: What It Is and What It Isn’t (Orbis, 2010). He has been elected and served as president of the College Theology Society, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Society for Philosophy of Religion.

Keith E. Yandell (Ph.D., Ohio State University) was Julius R. Weinberg Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, until his retirement. His many books include The Epistemology of Religious Experience (Cambridge University Press, 1994); Philosophy of Religion: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 1999); with Harold Netland, Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal (InterVarsity/Paternoster, 2009); Christianity and Philosophy (Eerdmans, 1984); Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Religion (Allyn and Bacon, 1971). He also served as editor for Faith and Narrative (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Preface

The purpose of the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith and Culture is to provide a venue for fair-minded dialogue to take place on subjects of importance in religion or culture. The intention is to have a respected Evangelical scholar dialogue with a respected non-Evangelical or non-Christian scholar. The forum is intended to be a dialogue rather than a debate. As such, it is a bit more freewheeling than a traditional debate, and it is not scored. The goal is a respectful exchange of ideas, without compromise. So often in our contemporary culture, the sorts of issues that the forum addresses stoke the emotions, and consequently the rhetoric is of such a nature as to ensure that communication does not take place. There may be a place and time for such preaching to the choir, but minds are rarely changed as a result of such activity—nor are better arguments forthcoming. The result often is that what passes for argument is really nothing more than a prolonged example of the straw-man fallacy.

The subject of the 2009 Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith and Culture was Pluralism: Can Only One Religion Be True? In our post-9/11 culture, this is a hugely important question for all persons, whether they are religious or not. The dialogue partners were Paul F. Knitter of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Harold A. Netland of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

The dialogue took place March 27–28, 2009, in the Leavell Chapel on the campus of the host institution, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. On a stormy March evening, the chapel was filled with an enthusiastic and appreciative crowd of approximately seven hundred people who had come to hear the exchange. The discussion between Knitter and Netland was spirited but extremely civil and frequently punctuated with good-natured humor. Knitter and Netland are passionately committed to their positions but also good friends with deep respect for the other’s scholarship. Such was obvious. One of the consistent fruits of the forum has been the realization that disagreement does not have to be shrill or heated, and that one does not have to check one’s convictions at the door in order for respectful dialogue to take place.

Along with my introductory chapter, this book includes a transcript of the March 27–28, 2009, dialogue between Knitter and Netland (including audience Q&A), as well as the papers presented the following day by S. Mark Heim, R. Douglas Geivett, and Terrence W. Tilley. In addition to the papers that were presented at the Greer-Heard Forum, other essays are included. Keith Yandell was scheduled to speak, but illness at the last moment kept him from being able to attend. Nevertheless, his paper was read at the conference and is part of this book. In addition, there are essays by Millard J. Erickson, Paul Copan, and Paul Rhodes Eddy, who were present and read these papers for the EPS event. Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and the late John Hick also were willing to contribute chapters for the book.

While one could easily note issues that are still not addressed in this volume or think of significant scholars who are not included, we believe these chapters make for a rich treatment of the issue. No doubt readers will have to judge for themselves whether this is, in fact, the case.

I am grateful that Fortress Press has seen fit to allow us to present the fruit of the 2009 Greer-Heard Forum. I trust that you will read it with an open mind and carefully consider what each author has to say. If you will, I have no doubt that you will be the richer for having done so.

Robert Stewart

March 1, 2012

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

Acknowledgments

Thanking others in print always causes me a bit of anxiety because I fear I will fail to recognize someone who truly deserves a word of appreciation. But many deserve to be publicly thanked—and even praised—so I must go on. First of all, I must thank Bill and Carolyn Heard for their passion to have a forum where leading scholars can dialogue about important issues in faith and culture in a civilized manner and on a balanced playing field—and their willingness to fund such a project! Without them, the Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith and Culture would be a dream rather than a reality. As always, I thank Dr. Chuck Kelley, NOBTS president, for his support and encouragement.

I must thank my former assistant, Rhyne Putman. He did everything he was asked to do and more—and all of it with a cheerful attitude. As in past years, he maintained the Greer-Heard website. He also oversaw any number of other things that didn’t fall under somebody else’s job description..

The forum would never have come off successfully without the efforts of J. P. Cox and his staff at the Providence Learning Center. J. P. is a true professional. I also am grateful to Vanee Daure and her team for the work they did in media support. Sheila Taylor and the NOBTS cafeteria staff must be applauded for serving numerous meals of all varieties to large numbers. Without the high-quality graphic art and public relations work of Boyd Guy and Gary Myers, the task would have proven too great. Lisa Joyner of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, deserves a word of recognition for her work in producing the conference programs and CD case covers.

I am appreciative of the Evangelical Philosophical Society (EPS) for sponsoring a special event that took place in conjunction with the Greer-Heard Forum. I also thank Scott Smith for his efforts in publicizing the event and Joe Gorra for providing EPS support materials.

I am grateful to NOBTS provost Steve Lemke for making it possible for several university groups to attend the event. His efforts, along with those of Archie England and Page Brooks and their respective staffs, were much appreciated.

Our contributors, Paul Knitter and Harold Netland, along with Terry Tilley, Doug Geivett, and Mark Heim, must all be thanked. Keith Yandell was scheduled to speak, but illness at the last moment kept him from being able to attend. Nevertheless, his paper was read at the conference, and I am very pleased to have it as part of this book. In addition, Millard Erickson, Paul Copan, and Paul Eddy were all present and read papers for the EPS event, which are included in this book. Furthermore, I must thank Nancy Fuchs Kreimer and the late John Hick for being willing to contribute chapters for the book.

Brantley Scott and the staff at the NOBTS campus LifeWay bookstore deserve a word of thanks for working so hard at the book signing and for going the extra mile to ensure that all the books ordered actually arrived on time. This was a massive undertaking, but they never complained.

Michael West, past editor-in-chief of Fortress Press, must be thanked for his enthusiasm for fair-minded, respectful dialogue on important issues and his interest in publishing the fruit of the Greer-Heard Forum. I am especially grateful for Michael’s successor, Will Bergkamp. Though we have not known each other very long, I sense that he too has the same passion for dialogue that Michael and I share. Without his support and encouragement, this project would never have been completed. I look forward to more fruitful work together on such projects. Susan Johnson of Fortress Press also deserves a word of thanks. Her cheerful attitude, eagerness to help in any way possible, and consummate professionalism are much appreciated.

As always, my wife, Marilyn, and my children must be thanked. I suspect they enjoy the rush that accompanies an event like the forum, but they still make numerous sacrifices.

I mentioned earlier the passing of Professor John Hick. In a very real sense, this book would not exist without the pioneering work of John Hick. I never met him personally. All of our interaction was via e-mail. When I invited him to contribute a chapter, he initially declined. In response, I told him that reading a book on pluralism without John Hick is like playing chess without the queen. I then asked if he had by chance an unpublished work or a published article on which he held the copyright that he would be willing to let us include. He then suggested that we include his article Is Christianity the Only True Religion, or One among Others? I am very pleased to be able to do so. In a way, this book and the conference out of which it arises are a result of Professor Hick’s scholarship.

I first encountered John Hick’s work in a seminar taught by John P. Newport. In this two-semester course, every student read Paul Knitter’s No Other Name? A Critical Survey of Christian Attitudes toward the World Religions and John Hick’s Death and Eternal Life. Newport passed away in August 2000. In John Newport, one encountered both a critical mind and a charitable spirit. He was able to interact critically with those with whom he disagreed without feeling the need to caricature their positions or resort to ad hominem arguments. In his classes, students breathed in an atmosphere of unrelenting clarity and contagious curiosity that was both challenging and refreshing. I was privileged to sit under his tutelage. John modeled Christian scholarship for all his students. I owe him for many things, among them introducing me to the work of scholars representing a wide variety of ideological and theological perspectives. I dedicate this book to the memory of John Paul Newport.

Can Only One Religion Be True? Considering This Question

Of any ethnic religion, therefore, can it be said that it is a true religion, only not perfect? Christianity says, No. The attitude of Christianity, therefore, towards religions other than itself is an attitude of universal, absolute, eternal, unappeasable hostility.

—William C. Wilkinson, at 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions[1]

Howsoever men may approach me, even so do I accept them; for, on all sides, whatever path they may choose is mine.

—John Hick[2]

I am now, you might say, a card-carrying Buddhist. In 1939 I was baptized. In 2008 I took refuge. I can truly call myself what I think I’ve been over these past decades: a Buddhist Christian.

—Paul Knitter[3]

The church bus was dark that night as our youth group made its way back home. I don’t remember where we had been, but I do remember the subject of the conversation. A friend of mine asked what happens to people who die without ever hearing of Jesus. I had never considered that question prior to that night. Our youth minister declared authoritatively that nobody would be saved apart from knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior. The implication was that people who had never heard of Jesus were still in their sins and faced eternal torment in hell when they died. It seemed unjust.

A little more than a year later, I was a student at a state university, living on campus with members of other world religions. I was struck by their sincerity and their moral way of life. In very many ways, they seemed just like me. Yet I believed them to be lost. There was a definite tension in my beliefs. On the one hand, I believed the Bible, and in the Bible, Jesus says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6). The apostle Peter also declares, And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12 NASB). On the other hand, I was seeing with my own eyes young people who did not claim Christ as their personal Savior and were as serious about their religions as I was about mine. They seemed as moral and spiritual as I. How was I to make sense of these seeming contradictions?

I don’t want to make it appear as though I was existentially undone or troubled about these issues every moment of every day; I confess I was not. Most nights, I did not lose sleep pondering these questions. I just told myself that God was God and he could work it all out even if I didn’t know how he would do so. But at times, I pondered these issues with great seriousness. Would I be a Christian if I had not been born into a Christian family? What if I had been born in Asia or the Middle East? Though I would never have put it this way, the philosopher Rousseau expressed my feelings:

You announce to me God, born and dying, two thousand years ago, on the far side of the world, in some small town I know not where, and you tell me that all those who have not believed in this mystery will be damned. These are strange things to be believed so quickly on the authority of an unknown person. Why did your God make these things happen so far off, if he would compel me to know about them? Is it a crime to be unaware what is happening half a world away? Could I guess that in another hemisphere there was a Hebrew nation and a town called Jerusalem? You might as well hold me responsible for knowing what is happening on the moon. You have come, you tell me, to teach me of it; but why did you not come to teach my father? Or why do you damn that good old man for never having known anything about it? Must he be punished throughout eternity for your laziness, he who was so kind and helpful, and who sought only for truth? Be honest and put yourself in my place; see if I ought to believe, on your word alone, all these incredible things which you have told me, and reconcile all this injustice with the just God you proclaim to me.[4]

The idea that God, who is morally perfect, could unjustly condemn people for not believing what they never had the chance to believe seemed absurd. What was I to do? Though I knew nothing about it at this point in my life, much ink has been spilled seeking to show that God is not, after all is said and done, unjust. So apparently I was not alone in feeling this way. Unbeknownst to me, I was wrestling with questions that arise in what theologians refer to as the theology of religions.

Theology of Religions

At the risk of oversimplifying the matter, theology of religions is the branch of Christian theology[5] that formally addresses issues related to the phenomena of religions. I had come face-to-face with the two primary questions that the Christian theologian of religions seeks to answer: (1) What is the fate of the unevangelized? and (2) Is Christianity the only true religion, i.e., the only religion in which one can be saved? These are important questions indeed.

As far back as our historical records go, we find religious diversity. The Christian religion was born into a world filled with religions, just as was Judaism, the parent-religion of Christianity. Religious diversity is nothing new. Yet it feels like there is something new about interreligious encounters in today’s multicultural, postmodern world. I suspect that the reason our contemporary situation feels new is due to access. Two hundred years ago, the average Christian in Europe or North America knew that there were Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. but rarely if ever met a faithful member of another world religion. That experience was largely reserved for explorers, sailors, and missionaries. Today, I have Facebook friends from every continent on earth, and I can place a call over the Internet to virtually any place on this planet. Additionally, I can fly in hours to places that two hundred years ago would have taken months or longer to reach. In this sense, then, the world today is much smaller than it used to be. Religious diversity is nothing new—but widespread recognition of it certainly is.

The upshot of all this is that we live not only in a religiously diverse world, but also in a world that has been religiously desegregated. As long as those other religions were over there, we could live happily in our homogeneous environment. Out of sight, out of mind. Our theological and religious lives were all neat and clean. But in today’s world, thinking about Christianity and other religions is complicated. Complicated does not mean the worse for, but certainly it does mean more difficult. So where are we? We live in a world that is aware of the fact of great religious diversity and is in one way or another obliged to react to it, difficult though that may be.

Ever since Alan Race coined the terms exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism in his 1982 book, Christians and Religious Pluralism,[6] his threefold typology has become the standard terminology for theologians working in the theology of religions.[7] Exclusivism is the position that holds that salvation is available only through personal knowledge of and commitment to Jesus Christ. Concerning exclusivism, Race states, "Undoubtedly, the predominant attitude of the church through Christian history has been to regard the outsider as in error or darkness, beyond the realms of truth and light. More than simply an expression of popular piety, it was institutionalized and enshrined, for instance, in the axiom of the Catholic Church, ‘Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.’[8] Exclusivism, therefore, counts the revelation in Jesus Christ as the sole criterion by which all religions, including Christianity, can be understood and evaluated."[9]

Concerning inclusivism, Race states, Inclusivism in the Christian theology of religions is both an acceptance and a rejection of the other faiths, a dialectical ‘yes’ and ‘no’. On the one hand it accepts the spiritual power and depth manifest in them, so that they can properly be called a locus of divine presence. On the other hand, it rejects them as not being sufficient for salvation apart from Christ and the way of discipleship which springs from him.[10]

Race does not explicitly define pluralism but writes, The pluralism of this chapter refers therefore to a range of other possible options in the reconciliation of a ‘truly Christian charity and perceptivity with doctrinal adequacy.’[11] John Hick supplies a prime example of religious pluralism: The great world faiths embody different perceptions and conceptions of, and correspondingly different responses to, the Real from within the major variant ways of being human, and that within each of them the transformation of human existence from self-centredness to Reality-centredness is taking place. These traditions are accordingly to be regarded as alternative soteriological ‘spaces’ within which, or ‘ways’ along which, men and women can find salvation/liberation/ultimate fulfillment.[12] Harold Netland helpfully summarizes Hick’s statement of pluralism: In other words, all religions (or at least the ‘major’ ones) are in their own ways complex historically and culturally conditioned human responses to the one ultimate Reality.[13]

There is an increasing awareness that Race’s typology, though helpful, needs to be expanded. In answering the question Is there any basis for hope that those who do not hear of Christ in this life will be saved? Christopher Morgan expands the typology from three to nine:

Church exclusivism: No, outside the church there is no salvation.

Gospel exclusivism: No, they must hear the gospel and trust Christ to be saved.

Special revelation exclusivism: No, they must hear the gospel and trust Christ to be saved, unless God chooses to send them special revelation in an extraordinary way—by dream, vision, miracle, or angelic message.

Agnosticism: We cannot know.

General revelation inclusivism: Yes, they can respond to God in saving faith through seeing him in general revelation.

World religions inclusivism: Yes, they can respond to God through general revelation or their religion.

Postmortem evangelism: Yes, they will have an opportunity to trust Christ after death.

Universalism: Yes, everyone will ultimately be saved.

Pluralism: Yes, many will experience salvation as they understand it because they embrace their version of the real, though the question is erroneous because it assumes that Christianity is ultimate.[14]

A fuller explication is in order. Church exclusivism is the traditional position of the pre–Vatican II Roman Catholic Church. Accordingly, membership in the church was required for salvation. Cyprian of Carthage (d. 258) stated it thus: Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus (Outside the church there is no salvation).[15] Pope Boniface I (d. 422) declared, "It is clear that this Roman Church is to all churches throughout the world as the head is to the members, and that